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Michigan State Basketball Gameday: Spartans take on Wolverines in battle of Big Ten's unbeatens

ESPN GameDay visits East Lansing

A Michigan State fan holds up a sign during a live airing of ESPN GameDay at the Breslin Center in East Lansing before Michigan State takes on Michigan Saturday January, 25, 2014. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

For starters, in over 100 years of Big Ten basketball, this is the first-ever match-up between two Big Ten teams with conference records of 6-0 or better. That's hard to believe, but that's what Stats Inc tell us.

There's also the issue of injuries. Michigan has been and will be without preseason All-American Mitch McGary, who had season-ending back surgery in early January. Michigan State will be without Adreian Payne (foot) for the fifth straight game and Branden Dawson, who broke his hand this past Thursday punching a table out of frustration.

None of these injuries however, make the matchup any less intriguing -- beginning with the showdown between Spartans sophomore Gary Harris and Wolverines sophomore Nik Stauskas. Harris and Stauskas are the Big Ten's two leading scorers, both averaging more than 18 points per game.

Both are also coming off big weeks. Harris has scored 47 points combined in wins over Indiana and at Illinois. Stauskas has dropped 49 combined in two straight wins over top 10 opponents Wisconsin and Iowa. But don't expect the two to go one-on-one all day at Breslin. Defensively, expect to see Harris spending time on Michigan guard Caris LeVert and don't expect Stauskas to be tracking down or checking Harris all day.

Somewhat lost in the Harris versus Stauskas matchup is Spartan senior point guard Keith Appling.

Appling has battled a boatload of bumps and bruises all season long to be the Spartans' iron man. With all the injuries and illnesses around him, he's managed to put this team on his sore back time and time again. What he's able to achieve tonight against the Wolverines will speak more to his character than to his game.

While Michigan has survived their biggest injury by relying on veteran forwards Jon Horford and Jordan Morgan, the Spartans will be filling their void in the paint by committee. Starting center Matt Costello will have to play as many or more minutes than the 22 he has averaged over the past four games. Junior Alex Gauna and freshman Gavin Schilling will have to do everything possible to stay out of foul trouble early in order for Spartans coach Tom Izzo to have enough bodies to bang down low.

Redshirt freshman Kenny Kaminski has a lot on his plate. Not only is he being asked to step up in place of Dawson, he's had 48 hours to prepare to defend the likes of Michigan's freaky athletic sophomore Glenn Robinson III, in what could be the game's biggest mismatch. That makes Kaminski the x-factor in a game predicted to be a close one.

Get your Michigan Basketball Gameday and an inside look at the matchup from Wolverines hoops beat writer Brendan Quinn here.

PREGAME QUESTION

Without two of their top players today, what style of play would be in Michigan State's best interest versus the Wolverines: Slow it down, physical half-court basketball or an up and down, fast break-focused attack?